A/N: I got inspired and decided to write a 2nd chapter for the fan favorite ship Sherlolly! I did make up the backstory that accompanies Molly's mother and the backstory of her father's death. I do not own Sherlock or the characters, only the story and plot line of this are mine. I don't imagine they would actually make Molly's mother this mean but I wanted to. : ) enjoy.
Molly's Mother
Dust particles danced whimsically through the rays of light that penetrated the curtains in 221 B, the often dangerously critical eyes of Mary Watson watching it in a less than interested gaze as her jaw rested in the palm of her hand. She breathed out, her lips billowing like fabric as the air flew past her lips and ended with a rather aggravated huff.
"Sherlock, darling, enough-"
"But don't you think-"
"No, there is no conspiracy going on at the newsstand down the street. Stop trying to come up with excuses and calm down."
"I am calm, perfectly calm."
John, who had been making a cuppa in the kitchen let out a little gawf of satisfaction before he moved to the living room and set the culmination of his hardly difficult task before his wife.
"Thanks, love." Mary offered as her eyes shifted from kind to hard and refocused on Sherlock with an intensity that made John smile even bigger.
"You did this right before her birthday dinner too. Why is it, whenever we make plans to spend time with Molly outside of work, in between cases, you try desperately to escape it. You're a detective, surely you know the futility of trying to deny me, especially while pregnant."
John sank into his chair, the entire time his mirth growing, he picked up the paper and started to pretend to scan through it. A sad guise that both his wife and Sherlock know would allow him to listen to Mary dig at Sherlock without actually having to deal with being a part of the conversation.
"Do shut up John, the humor you've found in this situation is unwarranted and I find it hints at the possibility of you being just as sociopathic as me."
John instantly dropped the paper onto his lap, it crinkled and protested before John flung it onto the floor with a rather athletic disregard.
"Why DO you always get so wound up whenever we go someplace with Molly. The birthday last month notwithstanding, you crawl up the walls anytime we have plans to hang out with Molly outside of work."
John had just successfully deflected Sherlock's insult and the detective looked with frustration at Mary who winked and sipped daintily at her tea.
"Maybe you are not aware, after all, normal people are always so dim-"
"Sherlock-" John warned as he glanced from his friend to his wife and then back, "Watch it."
"Molly Hooper is in love with me, she has been in love with me for seven years, and has tried desperately, though with little effect to quell her feelings. Anytime I am within three feet of her outside of the lab her….feelings….are quite obvious despite her rather sad and pathetic attempts to be respectful of my own blatant distaste for such things as sentimental as love."
"So, you hate having to deal with how awkward it is to be around someone who loves you while everyone else and yourself know the feeling is not returned?"
"Astute as ever Mary." The blonde woman smiled before she set her tea aside and stood up slowly, rubbing her swollen belly and waddling over to Sherlock. She looked up into his face and Sherlock looked down at her, his eyes narrowing with interest as she peered into his eyes.
"What are you do-"
"Hush." Mary said as she took his wrist in her hand pressing her fingers over his pulse, moving her face to catch Sherlock's eyes again as he had started to look away.
"What-"
"Wait." Mary said ignoring John's confusion as she leaned in and whispered to Sherlock, "Molly loves you Sherlock-"
His eyes continued to look into hers, Mary having the ability to manipulate and distract others just as easily as Sherlock could, "Mary-" Sherlock warned but Mary disregarded his warning and smiled, "She loves you, she is your friend, and she knows where you stand. She is willing to take what she can get, but she can't help loving you, so maybe doing what you always have done is the only thing you can do. Give her a kiss Sherlock, and appreciate the fact that you have a woman who will love you forever and require nothing in return."
Mary stepped back, having achieved her goal and made her way back to her seat, Sherlock staring after her looking increasingly confused. John joined him in this look of confusion as they both followed Mary with their eyes. She sat as if that awkward and strange moment had never happened and glanced adoringly at her tea before taking another sip.
The awkward silence stretched on before a knock at the door sounded through and sliced the quiet and all three bid enter simultaneously to the unknown party before glancing between each other again.
Greg Lestrade walked in then and stopped, the smile on his face faltering when the strange energy in the room washed across him.
"What happened?" He asked, his curious eyes peering from each person before finally landing on John, hoping the regularly astute man would guide him through the awkwardness that normally surrounded Sherlock.
"We're just waiting for Molly." Mary said, a smile lingering on her lips.
Sherlock clicked his tongue before he turned and gave a very forced smile, "Yes, Molly, perhaps you spied her on the way over?"
"No, but I got a text from her. She will be late about twenty minutes, some emergency came up."
"Everything alright?" John asked as he looked over his shoulder from his chair to question his friend.
"Well, she wasn't specific but she said she didn't need help and would get here as fast as she could."
"Wonderful, more waiting." Came a sarcastic reply from Sherlock before he thumped grumpily over to his favored chair and plopped down in utter defeat and frustration.
"Bit of a mood today?" Lestrade asked looking to John.
"How'd ya guess?"
Sherlock didn't respond, just rolled his eyes and thumped his head back on the backrest of his chair before closing his eyes and steepling his fingers.
"Whelp, he'll be good now for a tick. So, you Mrs. Watson, are you going to tell me what all the strange behavior was about just now or am I going to have to guess?"
Greg moved closer to hear but before Mary could even start another knock and a resounding yoo-hoo came from a suddenly frantic Mrs. Hudson.
All, save Sherlock, looked to her and her eyes said very quickly that something was happening, "What is it Mrs. Hudson?" Came a dull reply from Sherlock who remained in his pensive state and everyone jerked to him in surprise.
"A woman, who- she says she's- she wants to talk to you Sherlock, she's adamant."
John stood and crossed to the elder woman and placed his hand on her shoulder to try and ease her anxiety, "regrettably, Mrs. Hudson, we are all about to leave to go to the-"
"I will only take a few minutes of your time Mr. Watson, I won't take no for an answer and I will see myself in and out." came a very cold voice from the hall. John, who had been taken by surprise looked in time to move out of the way as a older yet smartly dressed woman pushed in between he and Mrs. Hudson and came to stand before Sherlock's slumped form before glancing around and all but sneering at the shabby flat.
"Thank you Mrs. Hudson, we'll take care of this." John said reassuringly as the landlady nodded and headed back towards her own flat.
Sherlock's eyes cracked open and before John could protest to the woman's rude behavior he sat up quickly and continued to scan the woman before him.
Watery brown eyes, auburn hair that's graying at the sides, very well off, very rich blood and tastes. One, no, two small dogs, both award winners. Open face but secretive and not trusting of others. Well guarded and intelligent but vain and controlling. Widow, recently remarried to a man of high standing, most likely in the government or politics. Pale complection, ages well, no surgeries, petite frame but strong willed-
"If your powers of observation are as keen as everyone seems to think I believe I need no introduction. Are my assumptions correct Mr. Holmes?"
Sherlock's brutally intense eyes scanned her up and down subtly and then an almost cruel smile slide across his face, "Oh yes, I say they are. John, will you please get a chair for Mrs. Hooper? She has come all the way from America after all, I am sure she is very tired."
All in the room froze and looked to the icey woman who stood with her head held high, a look of hawty derision on her face as she continued to stare at the famous detective.
"Mrs- Mrs. Hooper? As in our Molly?" Greg asked as John suddenly broke from his shock and grabbed their spare wooden chair, slipping it behind the obviously well-bred woman as she sat down with a grace and dignity befitting a queen.
"She is not YOUR Molly inspector, she is MY Molly and she is the exact reason I am here today. I do not have a lot of time, as I am aware my daughter will be here shortly but this is the only opportunity I could find. I wish to speak with you Mr. Holmes about the crimes you have committed against my daughter."
Sherlock, who had continued to deduce the woman before him as she had continued to prattle on finally snapped his attention to her face, his eyes narrowing as he spoke softly, "I know of no crimes I have committed against your daughter."
"Do not play dumb with me Mr. Holmes. I can understand Molly's infatuation with you. You are famous, handsome and highly intelligent. But what you have in brain power you lack in social decorum and I am tired of sitting on the sidelines and watching my daughter suffer."
"To which suffering do you refer Mrs. Hooper? I have come to find that there is a high probability that your daughter is a masochist and an excessive perfectionist. Coupled with anxiety, mild OCD and a severe case of fraternal abandonment issues."
"I am referring to the suffering you cause daily by remaining in her life and not putting a stop to this sick game of cat and mouse."
"I'm confused, are you accusing Sherlock of something?" John asked clenching his fists and taking a step towards the woman who was now eyeing him with venom.
"Oh, no doubt." Sherlock quipped as his eyes continued to drink in the strangely abundant amount of data coming off this woman.
"I believe what Mrs. Hooper is trying to say is that I intentionally use her daughter's feelings for me and lead Molly on in order to bend her to my will that I may use her for my own purposes such as gaining access to the lab, body parts and other such things. In this, she would be correct."
Mrs. Hooper nodded stiffly before she gave a sniff and looked away from the young man before her and eyeing him sideways, "I am glad you are aware of your own manipulations, I did expect to have to drag it from you-"
"What you are NOT aware of Mrs. Hooper is that Molly is also one of my dearest and most respected friends. And while, it is true, I have manipulated her feelings so that I could get things I require for cases or to alleviate my boredom I also have done many things for her and have on multiple occasions returned her favors in kind through various means."
"A kiss on the cheek pales in comparison to the things my daughter has risked for you and your- hobbies."
Sherlock's eyes lit up with mischievousness and he glanced to John, "My my, we have done our research haven't we? Perhaps you've studied how to be overbearing from my brother, though judging by your true age I'd say he may have learned it from you."
"Sherlock-" Mary barked under her breath, though she was hiding a smirk poorly behind her arm as she cleared her throat.
"No need to faine temperance Mrs. Watson, anything this man says to me will not disturb an ounce of me as it would most others. I have had many a year to build a suit of armor against abusive tongues such as his. Wag all you want Mr. Holmes, you'll not chase me from here until I have spoken my fill."
Sherlock gave a smirk, "Very well, pray continued then Mrs. Hooper. We are all very interested in your thoughts on my relationship with Molly."
By this point all were sitting save Greg who leaned against the door frame and stared at the back of Mrs. Hooper's head with disdain. He had met his fair share of rabid old birds like this while working for the yard, the fact that sweet innocent Molly could come from this icey woman was beyond all in the room, save Sherlock who had yet to show any surprise no matter what the woman said.
"As you know Mr. Holmes, Molly's father is dead. He died of cancer some ten years again and since then I have remarried. While Mr. Hooper had not been a rich man and did not come from the same class I loved him dearly and we married against my parents wishes. We had Molly, only Molly. She is my greatest treasure. So you can understand why I don't very much like the idea of a young sauve rogue like you parading about her, taking and eating away at her and keeping her from having a family."
"As you've probably noticed with my daughter, Mr. Holmes, she is a very strange and flighty girl. Highly intelligent but rather distasteful in her choice of profession. She is rather air headed when it comes to certain aspects of life but has a good sense of people. She doesn't quite fit in anywhere despite all my attempts to help her meet the right people and make the right friends-"
Mary leaned forward and cleared her throat, "I'm sorry, is this supposed to be a roast of your daughter or are you trying to defend her?"
Mrs. Hooper eyed Mary skeptically, "You won't understand until your precious little on has arrived. You've no idea how important they are to you until you have to see them struggle with things every other normal child can simply just do."
Sherlock seemed to peek up at this and he steepled his fingers before speaking, "You are speaking of your daughter as if she had some form of Autism or was a special needs child. Molly is a fully functional young woman who has made a very large amount of progress through her medical field despite her age, I am not clear on what disadvantages you may be refering to."
"You wouldn't be would you." Mrs. Hooper said icily, "Perhaps for once your have seen but not truely observed. My Molly is quite a brilliant actor. Though the good doctor's blog does claim you do miss things on occasion."
John cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair, "What do you think Sherlock could have missed?"
"You think her stuttering is bad when she gets flustered or embarrassed, you should have seen her as a child. Couldn't form a single word until she was seven. She was always tripping over herself too, it took two years of physical therapy to fix her twisted ankles and six years of ballet to help her gain her balance and muscle control. So you can imagine how limited her social skills were until she was able to go to school. Then, she found science and she became even more limited and socially outcast. I had hoped she would lean more towards law or politics, even a profession in ballet or music would have been preferable to the study of pathology. She is very gifted, no matter what hobbies I allowed her to participate in. She was always the number one, always the best. Even her obsession with the sciences was far beyond that of any of the children in her class. You can't imagine how many dead things I found in our freezer when her father gave Molly her first book of post mortem preservation."
"You're kidding-" Greg asked in shocked as a smile spread across his face and he looked to John and nodded his head sideways at Sherlock before chucking his thumb over her shoulder behind him towards the man in questions icebox. John raised a finger to his lips and shook his head no.
"Not at all. I nearly had a heart attack when I found a half frozen rat from one of our rat traps lying in our ice box dissected." Not bothering to look at Greg as she answered.
"That explains a lot." John whispered to Mary as the woman smiled at him and giggled softly.
"What is your point Mrs. Hooper?" Sherlock asked.
"My point Mr. Holmes is that my daughter has the potential to be anything she wants, but she chooses to dabble with the morbid and make friendships with the strange. What then, could you deduce about her prospects of finding a nice respectable man to settle down with and start a family?"
"Ah-" Sherlock whispered as another smirked slid across his features, "The truth comes out. This has nothing to do with protecting Molly from heartbreak so much as it does her chances of having domestic bliss."
"My Molly would do just about anything to not be bored Mr. Holmes. And while I know she wants a family, she is terrified of domestic bliss, as you so perfectly put it, and I think feels it would stand in the way of her work. Though she is able to find men who can look past her strange career choice she is unable to sustain it. Between her morbid fancies and her friendship with you and yours it is near impossible for her to find anything remotely stable. And I worry for my daughter, constantly. She had finally found a young man who was suitable for her and I was quite ready to pay for the wedding and all their needs until it abruptly ended, not a word on the matter from Molly have I heard since then. She simply ended things with Thomas and went back to her solitary life of dead bodies and science experiments."
John took this opportunity to butt in and he did so with an icy tone of his own, "Molly is a grown woman. If she chose to end things with Tom I am sure she had a good reason. She can make her own decisions."
"She ended things with Thomas because she was still in love with you Mr. Holmes. I know this for a fact. She thought it wrong to marry one man while she was still in love with someone else. And I refuse to watch my daughter go down in flames because of you Mr. Holmes."
"As my colleague has so perfectly stated, Molly is an adult. If she chose to end her engagement that is her decision. I cannot help if her feelings for me were the deciding factor. As I am sure you are aware I have made it known of my own feelings towards her and strived to ensure she understands my strictly platonic desires where she is concerned. I cannot make it more clear, and Molly has chosen to accept her place in my circle of friends. She knows how rare it is to receive my trust and companionship, she also realized how futile it would be to expect more. What would you have me do? Removing her from my life would only cause her more pain."
"I am glad you asked. I told you earlier that I have remarried since my late husbands passing. The man I have married has a very high position in the government, and as such he has elected to help me in obtaining certain benefits for my Molly."
The small group glanced at each other before Greg moved to stand next to Sherlock, "Pardon?"
"In two weeks times Molly will receive a letter from a very respected university. The letter will be offering her a position as a teacher in the pathology and sciences department. The money offered will be twice as much as she makes now as well as include free housing near the campus and the freedom to work on her own experiments and papers with grant money the university has saved up for the department. She will have everything she has ever wanted and will be able to skip over several more years worth of work she would have had to do to get this position."
"Right, but how do we come in?" Mary asked as she looked at the woman with suspicious eyes.
"I want you, all of you, to encourage her to take the position and leave London and Bart's behind. Tell her that you support her and make sure she takes this more than generous offer. Then, I never want any of you to contact her again. Especially you Mr. Holmes. Surely Bart's can supply you with another pathologist. And you won't have to worry anymore about my daughters simpering love for you. She will be more then happy and she will also be able to move on from you and find a man who will be able to give her everything she needs."
Silence filled the room then, all eyes resting on this cold well dressed woman who seemed so cruel in comparison to the young woman they knew from Barts. "You must be joking." Greg said as he crossed his arms over his chest and his brow furrowed, disbelief filled his voice as he spoke and Sherlock cocked his head slightly towards him, his eyes studying his gray haired friend before jumping back to the ice queen before him.
The messy haired detective was about to speak when a small gasp was heard and all heads turned to the doorway, "M-mother?" Molly stood in stunned shock, her hand still gripping the doorknob, her knuckles white.
"DARLING!" Mrs. Hooper said with a smile as she stood and circled around to her daughter. She embraced her very quickly and then pulled away before leaning in to kiss both sides of her daughter's cheeks.
"M-mother w-what are you d-doing here?" Everyone could feel Molly's discomfort, and her face shown a sickly white.
"Don't stutter dear, you sound like a broken record."
Suddenly her face erupted from sickly white to a ruby red and she looked down at her feet before she took a deep breath and tried to speak to her mother again, "Yes, I- I mean no, what are you doing here?" Molly's eyes flew to Sherlock who simply stared back at her, his hands cupped together before his mouth, eyes intense and filled with something close to anger. Molly had never seen that emotion before within his eyes and she wasn't sure how she felt about it being directed at her.
"I just wanted to stop in and see your friends! You talk so highly about them,I thought it was time for me to come and meet them!"
"I, yes- That's nice. Thank you. Where have you been, I haven't seen you in months-"
"Oh, you know dear, here and there. You step-father's job keeps us so busy. Government and politics are a rich man's life."
"My birthday was last month, you said you'd come down-"
"Oh! It's your birthday! Happy birthday darling! I'll make sure to send you a gift. I'm going to France next week. Your friends are lovely darling, just lovely."
Molly took a deep breath and tried again keeping her smiled plastered to her face, "Yes. We are going to go to a new exhibit at the science museum in London, would you like to join us?"
"Oh, how quaint. But I can't darling, I just can't, actually I must be off! Your step-father is waiting and you know it won't do to keep him waiting. So very busy. Now, do call me next time you're near by. I do so love your visits."
"But, you've just come, I haven't seen you-"
"I love you darling! Have fun tonight! Happy birthday again!" And then she was gone.
Molly stood there looking at the floor, her breathing heavy before she realized all eyes were on her, "I need-" another deep breath and her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides, "I need-, if you could excuse me a moment. Mother!" Molly turned and took off down the hall.
Instantly everyone was on there feet peering out the windows and down onto Baker street. Molly had just emerged as her mother shut the door to her town car and it pulled away from the sidewalk.
"Should we go down there?" John asked looking to Mary who just shook her head in an unsure movement, "Molly's tough, I am sure she will be fine, right Sherlock?" Greg looked to the thin man who was currently putting on his coat, "Sherlock?" John asked.
"I don't know." The man murmured before he headed out of the flat and down to the street. The three remaining looked to each other before they shoved themselves tighter against the windows and looked down to see Sherlock appear behind Molly. He tentatively put his hand on her shoulder and she jumped and turned to see him there. The trio could not hear the words spoken but in an instant Sherlock carefully opened his arms and Molly fell into them, her face covered by Sherlock's belstaff.
"I knew it." Mary murmured.
"Knew what?" John asked not tearing his eyes from the strange scene before him.
"Earlier, when I was talking to Sherlock-"
"Yes, what was that about?" John asked suddenly more curious to know about the truth behind the awkward moment then why Sherlock was suddenly so able to comfort a crying woman.
"I took his pulse, watched his pupils and looked for all his tells."
"And?" John asked.
"And I think our boy is suffering from a chemical defect."
John's eyes narrowed, his mouth parting slightly as he looked back down onto the street. Sherlock still holding her, gently rocking her back and forth and rubbing soothing circles on her back.
"No-"
"Yes."
"What does that mean?" Greg asked as he continued to scope the two on the pavement below.
Mary sighed and moved away from the window to sit down, "It means, that very soon, Sherlock is going to be climbing the walls for a very different reason."
John thought about it a moment and then swore before he dropped like lead into his chair and let his head fall back in utter defeat, "Good god no, I don't have the strength-"
"Not alone, but between the three of us, I think we can make this transition as painless as possible, for everyone involved." Mary said.
"What are we going to do?" Greg asked.
"I'm not sure yet. I need more data."
"You sound just like him." John said rubbing his eyes with his fingers as he sagged further into his chair.
"No matter what, we don't breath a word of this to anyone. Especially you Mr. DI of the yard. To many people would cause trouble and this is the last thing we want the media to get their hands on."
"Get their hands on what? It's no secret that Molly has a thing for Sherlock. That's hardly news."
"Yes, well John's blog would happen to differ."
"What? My blog?" John said sounding offended.
"You describe him as a cold and calculating robot who is most likely asexual and has no desires for sentiment and love whatsoever."
"So if word got out that he might have a thing for Molls-" Greg started before he rubbed his hand down his face and swore.
"The media would have a field day, not to mention probably hound poor Molly, Sherlock and anyone who is even remotely connected to him."
"Jesus." John whispered out.
"Look, we need more data. If you two will just keep an eye on those two whenever they interact. Look for anything subtle or not and tell me everything. It won't take to figure this out, even if Mr. stubborn won't openly and consciously admit it to himself, his subconscious will and it will do all the work for us."
"You really are evil aren't you?" John asked eyeing his wife wearily.
"You married me knowing full well my powers of influence, don't back down now darling."
"Alright, John and I will keep an eye on those two, see if there is anything we can pick up on to either confirm or deny your claim. Then we will go from there, though I don't know where we would go either way."
"If I'm wrong it won't matter, everything can go back to normal and poor Molly can continue to try and move on. If I am right, we are about to have a hell of a fight on our hands in regards to convincing Sherlock of his own feelings, and we only have two weeks."
"Two weeks? You're joking, why is everyone pulling my leg today."
"I'm not, in two weeks Molly's mother is going to have that letter sent to her daughter. If we can't get this straightened out by then-"
"You think she will go?" John asked setting up and crossing his arms over his chest.
"I think Molly is so desperate to stop loving Sherlock she will try anything. She may have dismissed leaving with Tom, but leaving on her own for an opportunity like this maybe the pressure she needs. And if Sherlock DOES have feelings for her, he won't take her leaving well."
"When do we start?" Greg asked.
"Right now."
Just then Sherlock and Molly re-entered the flat, Molly's face red and splotchy but a smile lingering none the less. Sherlock stood next to her scanning the room and then he humphed before he moved away from Molly, the petite woman watching him go with such longing everyone save Sherlock internally winced.
"Are we going then?" Sherlock asked as he stood in the room looking at each face carefully.
"Huh? Oh yeah. Let's go, or the museum will close before we get there." John chirped as he stood and made his way over to help Mary stand.
All got ready and then they followed Sherlock and Molly out, all three noticing Sherlock gently place his hand on the small of Molly's back as he led her out.